Summary:
The first season of Bakuman. followed fledgling artist Moritaka Mashiro and writer Akito Takagi as they attempted to win a manga competition in order to gain some recognition in the field. [Spoiler Alert!] When we last left the heroes, their manga had been approved for serialization...so the second season will likely follow the trials and tribulations of creating an ongoing serialized manga.

Summary:
A new cast of characters takes over the story of Battle Spirits, based on the popular trading card game. Hajime Hinobori is as enthusiastic about his favorite rice topping as he is about his favorite hobby, Battle Spirits...but one day outside the Battle Spirits store, he's challenged by someone who asks him: what is your fated card?

Summary:
Saving money on a half-price bento (box lunch) is no laughing matter: in the world of high schooler You Sato, the placement of a half-off sticker can set off a battle of extreme proportions right in the middle of the supermarket. Along with martial artist Sen Yarizui and half-Italian glasses-girl Ayame, You must learn to navigate grocery stores on an entirely new level.

Summary:
Kodaka Hasegawa is, as anime protagonists usually are, a normal high school guy. When he runs into the beautiful but sharp-tongued Yozora talking to her imaginary friend, he learns that she has few friends because of her unpleasant personality. After talking it over, they decide to create a club for students who lack friend-making ability: the Neighbor Club. They're shortly joined by a colorful cast of characters, including the narcissist Sena.

Summary:
The NHK hasn't released a cast or staff list for this show yet, but Chibi Devi is an adaptation of Hiromu Shinozuka's manga of the same name. In the manga, Honoka Sawada is a shy 14-year-old atheist who gets bullied in school...until one day, when an infant devil gets dropped off in her room while she sleeps.

Summary:
Ayase Chihaya is a high school girl who dreams about her sister becoming the greatest fashion model in Japan...until she realizes that this dream doesn't require her own involvement at all. After watching a classmate play the competitive card game karuta, Ayase decides to give the game a shot and build dreams for herself.

Summary:
The latest in the toy-based B-Daman franchise features an all-new cast of characters as part of its complete relaunch process. In the new series, protagonist Kakeru discovers a secret tournament for elite players of the popular B-Daman competitive game. Its name, of course, is "Cross Fight."

Summary:
In Fate/Stay Night, fans watched the fourth Holy Grail War; in Fate/Zero, they can see the events which took place ten years prior to the original anime and visual novel's story, which would have a strong impact on the war. The tale revolves around Kiritsugu Emiya, the foster father of Fate/Stay Night protagonist Shiro Emiya.

Summary:
In the year 2029, Japan is part of the GHQ multinational organization, which was formed after the outbreak of a terrifying disease. 17-year-old Shu avoids making trouble for people because he has a unique power— he can extract weapons from his nearby friends. But everything changes when he meets Inori, a member of the resistance group known as Undertaker.

Summary:
In an attempt to meet his missing father, a famous hunter, the young Gon decides to try and pass the hunter exam— those who pass get a license to go anywhere and do just about anything. On his journey he meets other hunter candidates and learns that there's a great deal more to the skill than he initially anticipated.

Summary:
A group of four boys— twins Yuki and Yuta Asaoba, Kaname Tsukahara, and Shun Matsuoka —who have been friends since kindergarten finally make their way into high school together. There, they're joined by a new friend, transfer student Chizuru Tachibana. Kimi to Boku. tells the tale of these guys' life-long friendship.

Summary:
Serving as a sequel to 2003's Last Exile, this new series follows Fam, a young sky pirate in a steampunk alternative Earth. Fam and her friend Giselle make a living by taking down massive airships and reselling them. When they get caught up in a battle, they make an agreement with the Kingdom of Turan: they will save the kingdom's princesses from their enemy, the Ades Federation, in return for the country's battleship.

Summary:
In the city of Kawakami— famed for its samurai heritage —second-year high school student Yamato has learned the value of a strong fighting spirit. He remains close to his friends, a solid group of four boys and three girls...but at the beginning of the new semester, two new girls join them, and things begin to change...

Summary:
Students at Takeru Oyama's elite private school don't just study— they battle one another using unique items called "maken." But Takeru's problems aren't merely martial in nature: he also has to deal with Inaho, who claims to be his fiancée, the mysterious girl Kodama, and his childhood friend Haruko.

Summary:
Shingo Uryu's elite academy is merging with a prestigious school for girls in the same town. A batch of boys— including Shingo, of course —are sent to the girl's school early to partially integrate before the full merger...but all of the girls hate boys. Shingo must befriend the girls and convince them to give his fellow classmates a shot.

Summary:
Loner Yukiteru Amano uses his cell phone to report everything that he sees to his imaginary pal "Deus Ex Machina." One day, Deus talks back, launching Yuki into a deadly game— each player's phone reports the future in exactly the style that the player would have written it, meaning that not everyone has complete information. Oh, and they're all supposed to try and kill each other...the last player standing wins godhood.

Returning cast: the cast of the original game will return for this anime adaptation.

Summary:
AIC animates the popular Persona 4 videogame, which revolves around the (fictional) rural Japanese village of Inaba. Protagonist Yu Narukami arrives in the village to live with the Dojima family for one year, but finds himself squarely involved in a rash of murders in the town. Accused of the murders, Yu must find the real culprit.

Returning Cast: the original television cast will return for the new series.

Summary:
Several months after the final tournament in the original The Prince of Tennis, Ryoma and his team mates are among a mere 50 students invited to participate in a special camp for tennis elites, the Japanese High School Representatives Selection Camp, to train. At the camp they will undoubtedly have to deal with new enemies, friends, challenges, and adventures.

Summary:
In the first season, editor Ritsu Onodera left his father's publishing company to prove that he wasn't simply riding his dad's coattail, winding up at a shoujo manga department...and getting romantically entangled with his (male) boss, Masamune Takano. In the second season, the romance and the drama continue in Marukawa Publishing's infamous "Emerald" division.

Summary:
Little information has been released about this anime title, which is based on a popular mobile phone game aimed at female players. In the game, players establish their own domain in Japan's Sengoku era and can interact with gorgeous versions of popular Sengoku-era historical figures, as well as with one another via diary entries and illustrations.

Summary:
The final Shakugan no Shana light novel was released in Japan on September 10, and now the final anime season is upon us. The season will capture the ending to the story of high school student Yuji Sakai and the mysterious sword-wielding Shana, who hunts down those who would steal the life force of humans.

Summary:
The squid girl invades once again in the second season of this hit gag comedy! Ika Musume is a powerful humanoid squid who is determined to take over the entire planet. The Aizawa family, which runs a noodle shop on the beach which she first tries to conquer, puts up with her antics and damage...in exchange for her help around the restaurant, of course.

Summary:
Amateur photographer Fu Sawatari returns to the town of Takehara, Hiroshima— her late father's hometown —after a five-year absence and begins her first year of high school. There, she manages to establish a set of friends despite her shyness: childhood friend Kaoru Hanawa, plus Maon Sakurada and Norie Okazaki. The four friends stick together through a variety of high school adventures.

Summary:
The colorful employees of the Wagnaria restaurant return in this sequel. These include the impressively short, clumsy, and hard-working Popura, "newbie" Sota (who has a problem with voicing his inner monologue), violently androphobic Mahiru, and lazy manager Kyoko, to name but a few! In the Wagnaria family restaurant, the employee comes before the customer...after all, they're doing all the work!

This hit series continues its exhilarating run of battles in a volume that demonstrates the stunning impact of shonen manga at its best. Nick Creamer has the details.― Although the Hassaikai assault isn't necessarily My Hero Academia's best arc yet, it's fair to say that it's undoubtedly the manga's most complicated. We're following a half-dozen separate teams representing at least three separate in...

Todd hosts this week and gets to talk about the latest Valkyrie Profile game! Plus a new Zelda, some old Konami classics, Sega memories, and the surprise return of Blaster Master!― Hello, and welcome to another edition of Todd Guest Hosts His Old Column. This week's edition comes on the heels of Sega halting sales of Judgment, a spin-off of the popular Yakuza series, due to Japan's bizarrely draconi...

Why can't we get Netflix anime like Devilman Crybaby or Aggretsuko on bluray in the West? Justin breaks down some of the reasons why.― DarkShadow asked: So, several folks in anime circles are complaining that whenever Netflix gets an anime exclusive (i.e. Little Witch Academia TV series), that anime title is effectively condemned to not be released on home video, like it will never be released on h...

Kim Morrissy explores the legacy of the massively influential cult hit Boogiepop and Others, a supernatural story about adolescent anxieties with an unprecedented impact on the light novel industry.― In 1997, Kouhei Kadono's Boogiepop and Others won the 4th Dengeki Novel Prize (then the Dengeki Game Novel Prize). Despite the publisher's obvious faith in the novel's quality, when the manuscript was p...

This compilation film for the first half of this beloved fantasy anime compresses Made in Abyss' story without losing any of its wonder and charm. Theron Martin has the full story on what was changed in the move to the big screen.― Journey's Dawn is a compilation movie that condenses the first eight episodes of 2017's Made in Abyss TV series into a roughly two-hour story. Its four-minute prologue is...

This experimental comedy anime adapts a 4-panel manga about a free-spirited woman in her twenties into something truly avant-garde. Micchy and Steve explore what makes this collaborative anthology series so special.― Rinshi!! Ekoda-chan adapts a 4-panel manga about a free-spirited woman in her twenties into something truly avant-garde. This week, Micchy and Steve explore what makes this collaborati...

This series of vignettes might not make for a satisfying film when smushed together, but Take Your Marks still offers an enjoyable set of old-fashioned Free! adventures. Nick Creamer has the details.― It's been interesting to watch the Free! franchise grow and transform, the show itself oddly echoing the journeys of its characters. The show's first season focused largely on slice of life and comedy,...

Paul plumbs the psychedelic depths of this alternate-history superhero thriller, along with a breakdown of all this week's new blu-ray releases!― There's apparently a new game in the Fate franchise coming out this week, and I hope it's good. Not because I don't already have a huge gaming backlog to deal with, but because I need an excuse to finally take a break from the Fate smartphone game. A pers...

Mike Toole takes all 8 episodes of Rooster Teeth's ambitious, 3DCG sci-fi mecha action series - starring Creed's Michael B. Jordan - out for a spin.― Many fans of animation and nerd culture around the world revere Rooster Teeth, the Austin-based production studio that began a slow climb to fame back in 2003 with Red vs. Blue, a series of online animated shorts created with the Halo engine about two ...